Sweet Nothings
by bffimagine
Summary: When the one you love is torn from you, there's really nothing you can do but to rip the head off the person that took him. RanKen


Bffimagine: I like the premise for this fic, but I don't know what it'll turn out to be… Let's see! (I don't think this is a one-shot but we'll have to wait and figure out how this'll work…) RanKen!

So much blood.

Ran blinked away tears as he assessed Ken's wounds.

There were some burns ranging from minor to medium risk, and a few minor cuts along with the severe one on his back, and the bullet injury.

The good thing was that the bullet had passed straight through the soccer player's stomach, but the bad thing about that was the fact that it had probably grazed an artery.

In other words, Ken was going to bleed to death within the next ten minutes.

It had started as a bright spring morning—the kind Ken would wake up to and rush outside to play soccer before even eating breakfast—and thus Ran awoke to the sound of Aya-chan giggling as she watched the resident ex-J Leaguer slip and fall unceremoniously on his butt.

The smell of coffee lured him to the kitchen. Omi was cheerfully cooking the morning meal as Yohji read through the newspaper, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

Typical 'perfect' morning.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Ran-kun," Omi chirped in his cheerful manner.

"Hn." Ran took a seat across from Yohji at the table, looking out the kitchen window at Aya chasing Ken around the yard to the side of the Koneko.

It seemed too good to be true.

And it was.

Manx walked briskly in through the door.

"Weiss," she addressed them curtly, "We have an emergency mission for you. It must be completed _tonight_."

The three members nodded.

"Where is Siberian?"

"He's… er… outside…" Omi looked out the window at the still playing Ken.

"I'll get him," Ran said quickly, running out to the side yard.

"Ken! Get in here! It's important!"

Ken's happy demeanour changed quickly into serious assassin mode.

"Oh, Aya, you should go and get to your study group now." He flashed her a sunny smile before nodding at Ran and following him inside.

"Oi! Ran-nii! You guys be careful, ne? Don't get hurt!" Aya waved and turned to walk in the direction of her friend's house.

"Have fun, Aya-chan," Ran replied.

Manx looked at each Weiss member in turn.

"There is a drug lord, Liu Mengyan, trying to sell copious amounts of a deadly drug, Aphrodite, to the youth of Japan.

"Once you touch this drug, there is no going back. You are addicted for life, and your life won't be that long anyway. Obviously it is quite illegal. Are you all in?"

"What kind of security are we up against?" Yohji inquired quietly.

"Two particular bodyguards may pose a problem; a man by the name of Hua Long who uses a strange martial arts technique to do with fire, and another by the name of Bai Hu who uses a Wei ice-thin blade…"

"How cliché," Ken interjected, "'Fire Dragon' uses fire-based martial arts and 'Ice Tiger' uses a 'Wei ice-thin blade'? Who named these guys?"

"This is no laughing matter, Siberian," Manx chastised severely.

"Dakedo, Ken-kun… you speak Mandarin?" Omi turned and gave a puzzled look to Ken.

"My mom sent me to classes when I was little," Ken muttered sheepishly.

"Is everyone in?" Manx swept the room with her eyes.

No objections came from any of the assassins.

"Good luck, Weiss." Manx left the room, and only the echoing clicking of her high-heeled shoes was heard.

"It's a simple enough mission," Omi sighed wearily, "So we go in, kill him, get out."

"These blueprints couldn't get any clearer," Yohji stated flatly, turning the layouts over in his hands.

"So we just have to kill the guy? No retrieval, no rescues?" Ken looked up from the outline to Omi.

"As far as our resources tell us, yes."

"Let's get ready then," Ran ordered finally, turning and leaving the other members of Weiss to their devices.

Midnight crashed hard and fast on the white hunters of the dark. Time had flown by so fast…

Ken mainly spent his time in his room, blaring some indiscernible station on the radio and trying to numb his raging nerves.

Ran read a book. While polishing his katana.

Yohji cancelled his date for the evening, only to call back and reschedule four for the next week.

Omi was chatting over the Internet, mainly, while making sure his darts were filled and organized in a way that he could remember which were which.

And finally, it was mission time.

Liu Mengyan had a simple hideout, nothing to show he was a powerful drug lord, in an old auction house. He had a lot of people surrounding the building, probably because the massive amounts of Aphrodite within it were worth well over the cost of Yohji's entire wardrobe _with_ accessories.

And, like most evil drug lord figures, his own personal office was in the very centre of the auction house, directly above the stage. It was guarded by his two very dangerous employees; making it just slightly more difficult to barrel through than the rest of the building.

"Why do I get a really bad feeling from all of this?" Omi whispered into the com-link.

"Because Ken's the one going in to take out the target?" Yohji joked softly, smiling at the thought of Ken's face flushing with anger.

But no angry retort came.

This worried Yohji, but it worried Ran more.

"I'll kill him, no matter what. I'll make sure this job is done, Yotan. I'll make sure its done with no injuries to any of us."

Ken's voice was so serious Omi nearly fainted with shock.

'Please, don't let anything go wrong,' Ken silently prayed.

The feeling of fear-induced nausea tightened in his stomach, and he guessed the others probably felt it too.

Something would go wrong tonight. Terribly, terribly wrong.

Yohji ran, his sides clenching from over-exertion. He'd been running non-stop for about half and hour now. There were just so many guards to attend to, and they seemed to like attacking in large numbers.

Omi wasn't doing any better. He was currently crawling through the vents, taking out everyone in the room he ended up in. He had gone through six or seven rooms so far, and was hoping to finish off the rest of them on the ground floor level.

Ran had sliced his way through the guards on the top floor, and Ken clawed into the basement floor.

"This wasn't supposed to be so difficult," Yohji gasped into the com-link, short of breath from running.

"Something's not right," Ran answered briefly, "There are way too many of these people."

"We can't help that now, Abyssinian. We can only get this mission over with, as quickly as possible." Omi coughed as some dust made its way up his nose.

"You okay, Bombay?" Ken uttered breathlessly, bounding up the stairs then pivoting to kill the next five guards.

"I'm fine. Where are you?"

"Heading up to the target."

"Be careful."

"I will."

Ran paused a moment, leaning back on the wall behind him. There were so many people to kill, it was beginning to really tire him out. He doubted the others were doing any better… But Ken seemed to be in the best shape of them all, probably from hours and hours of non-stop soccer practice for years.

A small smile graced his lips at the thought. Ken always seemed the most beautiful with children, that carefree smile on his face and his wind-tousled brown hair in disarray.

He pushed himself off the wall.

'Don't get yourself into trouble, Ken. I love you.'

The thought seemed strange but Ran knew it felt right. He hoped Ken could somehow hear him…

Strangely enough, Ken felt Ran's words. He smiled slightly as he ran through another corridor, sidling by a wall to remain unnoticed and to use the element of surprise on his enemies.

'I love you too, Ran.'

He dashed out and quickly took out three of the guards before the other four noticed, and then cut through the remaining ones before they had a chance to attack.

Finally, he was standing right in front of the door to the target…

"Siberian! Where are you?" Omi threw another eight darts, each one hitting their mark.

"Right in front of the target's door."

"Don't forget about the two bodyguards."

"I haven't."

"I'm on my way to back you up, Siberian," Ran announced reassuringly.

"Good luck." Omi turned back into the vents and disappeared into the dark tunnels.

Yohji slid down a wall to sit on the floor. He was so tired now… luckily his part of the mission was over. He'd already finished killing everyone in his section of the auction house, so all he had to do was wait and be ready to back his team mates up.

'Good luck, guys. Be safe.'

"Where do you think you are going?"

Ken whipped around.

A tall, bald man was standing in front of him. He held no weapons.

"You are not going anywhere."

Ken swivelled again.

'Oh no…'

Beside him was another bald man with a nearly transparent sword.

Hua Long made the first move, sending a stream of fire aimed for Ken's abdomen.

Luckily the brunette snapped out of his fear-filled daze to jump out of the way before it hit him. Instead, it reduced the plush, expensive-looking carpet into grey ash that held none of its previous red splendour.

Bai Hu whipped his sword through the air. Ken side-stepped so that he was out of the sword's blade radius but still managed to get a nasty cut on his forearm.

His opponent chuckled.

"My sword is so thin you may think you have dodged, but it will still get you anyway."

Ken swallowed his panic as he jumped over a ball of flaming energy, the heat still burning his left ankle.

He made a quick lunge for Hua Long, managing to slice into the martial artist's right calf before flattening himself against the floor to avoid the ice-blade.

'I am _so_ going to feel this in the morning,' Ken thought sarcastically as he swiped a kick at Bai Hu's feet.

A shoe connected with one of Bai Hu's shins, temporarily making him lose his balance, and creating an opening for Ken to attack. He sunk the blades of his bugnuk into Bai Hu's chest and heard the man choking on his own blood.

The sick feeling settled into his stomach but he ignored it so he could pull his bugnuks out of Bai Hu and used his other arm to swing at Hua Long.

Hua Long was ready to defend himself. He shot multiple jets of fire at Ken, and the bugnuk wielder just barely dodged them all, most of them grazing his legs and arms, burning the skin and making it blister. His bugnuks prevented one from getting to his face, and the sound and smell of blood sizzling on the blades made him gag.

Again the claws sank into flesh, and Ken made a forceful swipe to the right just to make sure the bodyguard would stay dead.

White-hot pain seared through his back as Bai Hu cut into him with his blade.

"Just stay dead!" Ken whispered to himself as he slashed through Bai Hu's throat.

Ken took a deep breath and willed away the intense pain flooding his senses. His vision was just slightly blurry and his body felt heavy, but he swore to finish this job and he would.

Slowly and carefully, Ken turned the knob of the door.

Steadying himself, he closed his eyes, said a quick prayer for his team mates, and ran rapidly through the door, his claws aimed to kill.

Ran's heart stopped at the sound of a gunshot from above.

There had been a flood of guards waiting for him on the stairs up to Liu Mengyan's office, and it delayed him as he hacked through the mass of bodies. He needed to go and back Ken up before the soccer-player got injured…

BANG!

Ran sprinted faster, dearly hoping it wasn't already too late.

Ken felt the pain explode in his lower abdomen and he heard the bullet embed itself into the wall behind him, but his claws were not deterred from ripping out the target's throat.

Liu Mengyan's gun clattered to the floor as the man's lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling.

Stepping back, Ken exhaled before the dark spots in his vision took over and he collapsed.

'Oh my God…'

Ran grabbed Ken's unconscious body and spared a withering glance at Liu Mengyan's corpse before hurrying out of the office.

"Ken," he murmured, "Can you hear me?"

Obviously Ken was not lucid, and he had quite a few lurid-looking injuries, but somehow those soulful brown eyes opened and looked straight into the abyss of Fujimiya Ran.

"Yes… I can hear you…"

"I'm going to get you out of here," Ran whispered soothingly.

A small, weak smile was given to him before Ken nodded and closed his eyes, becoming limp into his hold.

'Don't die, please, please don't die…'

Ran scrambled out of the auction house as fast as his legs would take him.

"Oh God… Kenken…"

Yohji brought a hand to his mouth, trying not to choke on whatever had risen in his throat.

Omi paled. He began to gag, but there was nothing for him to throw up, so his body was convulsing uncontrollably and nothing was coming out. Yohji patted him on the back to try and stop the jerking, but _something_ was coming out of Omi, and it finally clicked to the three of them.

Every emotion; guilt, fear, worry, anger, grief… it was all coming out of Omi now.

But Ran wouldn't have it.

"He is NOT dead, Tsukiyono, and you are NOT about to go on as if he was." Ran looked down at Ken's seemingly sleeping face in his arms, and he looked back up to his other team mates.

If Ran believed what he just said, his eyes certainly didn't.

"Drive, Yohji!" Omi stated loudly, turning to face the driver beside him.

Ken was laid out in the back seat with his head in Ran's lap, the red-head stroking blood-soaked hair out of the brunette's face.

Weiss knew Fate had an affinity for screwing up their lives. They wouldn't be in Weiss if Fate had decided to smile upon them…

Her back was turned, and they could feel the chill of death setting in the marrow of their bones.

"W-What about the target, Ran-kun?" Omi's shaky voice tried to get their minds off the current situation.

"Terminated."

Or so they thought.

"Yohji, stop speeding."

The quiet, sickly voice made every occupant of the car turn around.

"We won't make it to a hospital in time if he doesn't hurry, Ken," Ran replied to Ken's request.

"You won't make it in time if you do. And if you speed, what are the chances we'll crash and all of us die?"

"No… Ken…" Ran's eyes were no longer hard-edged and cold, but watery and pained.

"It hurts to think of you… all of you… dying because you were speeding to get to the hospital."

Fate had a friend named Irony.

"Just let it be. There's nothing you can do to stop what is inevitable."

Ran opened his mouth to protest, yet Ken painstakingly brought a finger up to his lips to silence him.

And both Fate and Irony were evil, twisted bitches that loved to make everything hurt more than it should.

"You know I love you, right?"

Ran didn't want to answer, but those big, warm brown eyes looked at him expectantly.

He hesitated.

Fate and Irony lived on top of a cliff, and they delighted in torturing people, then throwing them off to their deaths after they grew bored.

"I-I know. I love you too."

Ken smiled softly.

"Then I can die without regrets."

"No! You can't honestly want to die, Ken!"

Omi's tears washed thin streaks of skin onto the mask of blood.

Yohji felt like a vice was squeezing all the air out of his nicotine-blackened lungs.

"I don't."

There was also Fate and Irony's playmate, Guilt.

"But if any of the three of you died, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

Guilt decided to settle herself heavily in Ran's chest.

"Promise me you guys will move on and be happy someday?"

Ken forced his eyes open to focus on Ran's face, however blurry his vision was from blood loss.

Ran nodded slowly.

Fate and Irony were laughing at him. He could hear it amidst the pained ringing in his ears.

"If there is a heaven for people like us, I'll be waiting for you guys there."

A last smile flickered across Ken's features like a dying flame, and finally Fate, Irony and Guilt snuffed it out.

The one that decided to come and comfort Ran was the worst of the four.

Vengeance.

bffimagine: I like the whole Fate and Irony thing in this one! WOOHOO!

Ken: You killed me in the FIRST CHAPTER! What is this?

Ran: A deathfic? (raises eyebrow)

…

bffimagine: Three reviews and an update! (Although more would be GREATLY appreciated XP)

A/N: If anyone noticed, I sorta stole BaiHu, HuaLong and Liu Mengyan from GetBackers, manga volumes I think 11-13ish… Anyway, those characters and their attributes belong to Aoki Yuya and Ayamine Rando. Uhm… yeah.

Later days.


End file.
